Locals find WW2 gun shells at garden site in Central

TOTAL of 164 Japanese Type 94 75mm mountain gun shells from World War II were found in Ioribaiwa ridge along Kokoda Track in Central last month.
Local landowner Jack Avu discovered the ordnance while clearing an old garden site.
The shells were stacked in rows and covered by hessian copra bags with a thin layer of soil on top.
National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) principal curator of modern history Gregory Bablis, who is engaged with the Papua New Guinea-Australia Partnership, and Kokoda Track Authority interim chief executive officer Julius Wargirai travelled to the site and removed the shells.
The discovery was likely to be one of the largest WWII-era collections of this type of munitions in the world.
The location of the site near the Kokoda Track made it an added attraction for trekkers.
Only a day’s walk from Owers’ Corner, the small hamlet of Ioribaiwa witnessed intense fighting during WWII between Australian forces and the furthest southern advance of the Japanese army in the Kokoda campaign.
“NMAG recognises this as a significant rediscovery and an important site for management and protection,” Bablis said.
He said plans were underway to close off the site, and a similar cache at Fabula near Eora Creek, in protective structures that balanced security and safety with access for trekkers.
These plans included discussions with PNG Defence Force personnel and experts on safe handling of unexploded ordnance and long-term curation, including potential disarmament, he said.
Community members were briefed on NMAG’s new “No touch, no dig” policy for the Kokoda Track, with landowner Avu signing a memorandum of understanding and land use agreement for the management of the site in partnership with NMAG.
The “No touch, no dig” policy included guidance and advice for community members, trek operators and visiting trekkers on not to handle artefacts found along the track, digging or sweeping areas to search for artefacts, or undertaking excessive exploration beyond established trails.
According to military records from 1942, retreating Japanese soldiers left the shells behind, which were later found by Australian forces and stored down the ridge from the village.